Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce he is running for president in a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk during a Twitter Spaces online event Wednesday, a DeSantis political team official confirmed.
Tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who has ties to Musk and is a DeSantis supporter, will reportedly moderate the event at 6 p.m. ET.
DeSantis, 44, will file paperwork to officially enter the presidential race Wednesday, as Newsmax has been reporting for about a week.
Musk retweeted the reports of the Twitter campaign launch plans that DeSantis' political team confirmed to Newsmax.
A DeSantis campaign official emailed Newsmax as the news was breaking with a picture of a gray alligator with a white eye swimming in a dark black swamp. "Drain the swamp" had been a rally cry for former President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.
DeSantis has declared to Newsmax that he has effectively drained the swamp in Tallahassee, Florida, as governor.
DeSantis will immediately become Trump's biggest rival for the nomination, ratcheting up competition that has been largely one-sided.
DeSantis will make the announcement while meeting with top donors at a Four Seasons Miami hotel, which is expected to last into Friday and will mark the start of DeSantis' fundraising efforts.
Musk said on Twitter in November he would support DeSantis if the governor ran for president in 2024.
Musk, speaking at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Summit event in London on Tuesday, seemed to confirm the news, saying DeSantis would be making "quite an announcement" on Twitter the next day.
"The first time something like this is happening on social media," with real-time questions and answers, he said.
He added he is not endorsing any particular candidate at this time.
"Big if true," DeSantis' wife, Casey, tweeted Tuesday on Twitter, adding a smiley face.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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